Buzzzzzz.... Busy Bees in Mahonia... March 16, 2010

One of the earliest signs of spring in my garden is the bees going after the pollen in the Mahonia blossoms... this plant is so amazing... it has something of beauty to look at year-round and also provides the pollen gatherers with LOTS to go after. My only problem is that I'm really afraid of bees so fear getting close enough to get really great shots with my macro lens! Maybe I should try my 70-300mm zoom on a tripod since that would put me further back. The other issue with capturing these busy bees is that spring seems to wake them up quite nicely and they are REALLY moving around a LOT which also makes for difficulty capturing their images on camera.

Face plant... Bumble-bee going after pollen in Aster...

Couldn't resist taking a few photos with my macro lens today... am so far behind everywhere that I had no business doing so! But fall is in the air, the asters are blooming and the bees are busy doing their thing...

Since I'm quite far behind with posts going back as far as my Australia and New Zealand trip in July/August, I will TRY to post more than one photo a day to this blog...

BUT no promises since I must also concentrate on choosing images and getting them printed and framed and all the other details that go with having a photography show at a local gallery in February, 2010... which will creep up on me before I know it I'm sure!!!!

Bee... Lace-cap Hydrangea... Pollen Gathering...

The bees have visited and revisited these tiny anthers and stripped many of pollen (the blue ones), whereas some have a bit of pollen left (those with bits of white on the blue) and others haven't yet been visited. There is so much going on at the macro level that I have trouble wrapping my head around it all! (Some of the buds haven't opened yet to reveal their pollen so the bees have plenty of pollen to gather for days to come... I'll try not to bore you all with daily shots of bees in the hydrangea!)

Nose plant... Bumble-Bee after the pollen in the Lambs-ear Blossoms...

Went for a walk during a lull in the rain yesterday (pouring down hard again today)... found this bumble-bee on the Lambs-ear in a neighboring yard and took a LOT of shots to get this one... as hard as it's raining... may not have much luck with my camera today! So hope you enjoy this from yesterday and have a great weekend!